Retired, Re-used, Rekindled

People warned me of the pitfalls of early retirement: boredom, financial difficulties and the absence of purpose.

Pre-retirement days meant there were schedules to follow: the daily commute, meetings, deadlines, performance discussions and the never ending events to manage. Twenty-four hours did not seem enough.

At present, I admit that there are plenty of days with no specific agenda on my plate but there is plenty to keep me occupied: prayer and reflection, weeding my little garden, going thru my collection of recipes, calling my mother, answering the crossword puzzle (lots of time needed)… and the list goes on. Regrettably the days go by just as fast.

Pre-retirement days meant not paying attention to the cost of chicken or whatever took my fancy at the supermarket. Buying came easy with no second thought about budgets to follow. Money was not an issue.

Now-a-days, I keep to a budget, check out chicken prices and think twice before I buy a trinket. (Do I REALLY need another one?) No need to get another pair of office pumps with killer heels or “borloloys” to jazz up my look in the kitchen. Thankfully, with prudent use, I hope that money will not be an issue.

In the past, my purpose was to contribute to keeping the corporate alive. At present, I have found joy in using skills honed during corporate life as a volunteer in my parish scholarship committee. The scholarship program is open to children of a nearby squatter community.

Only recently, I got involved in a Lenten Recollection organized by said committee for these children. Just like corporate days, the group plunged into the planning and the execution of said event. It was just like the “old days”—program flow preparation, set-up of venue, logistical checklists, and even a de-briefing afterwards. There were three priests that facilitated the event where 83 kids showed up. Most of all, the assessment made by these children indicated that they had a good time and learned a lot. The little we did was greatly appreciated. I could not help compare this with the many complaints I used to hear from participants in more lavish corporate events. How ironic indeed.

Can I sustain this way of life? I’ll be sure to let you know.

* > ** > ** > ** > ** > ** > ** > ** > ** > *

Preparing for an event, big or small, is like cooking a dish. You need to know what, how, when and even why you will cook a particular dish. You have to ensure you have all your logistical requirements: ingredients, cooking utensils, and work force. Lastly, you have to be open to feed-back in order to assess whether it is a dish worth improving or serving again.

The following recipe will give you a good appreciation for the need to be organized:

Chinese Lumpia



Ingredients:
¼ c cubed shrimps
1 c grated carrot
2 c grated coconut heart of palm (ubod)
2 c grated tokwa (firm tofu)
1 large onion, minced
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
1 c julienned cabbage
1 egg, scrambled, cooked and chopped
Native lettuce leaves, washed and dried
Fried sotanghon
Peanuts (pounded)
Brown sugar
Celantro leaves
Lumpia Wrapper

Optional:
Chopped celery
Chopped cucumber
Bean Sprouts

Sauce:
½ t Fish sauce (patis)
2 t Soy sauce (toyo)
1 T Brown sugar
1 c water
1 t Corn starch
In a small pan, bring to simmer the water, patis, toyo, and sugar. In a cup, mix together the corn starch with 1 tablespoon of water. Add this to the simmering mixture. Stir until mixture has thicken. Adjust seasoning to your liking. Pour into a small bowl.

Bottle of hot sauce

Procedure:
1) First Saute
a) Divide the onions and garlic into three portions.
b) Saute 1 portion of the onion and garlic with:
i) Carrot
ii) Ubod
iii) Cabbage
c) Set Aside.



2) Second Saute
a) Saute 1 portion of the onion and garlic with the tokwa.
b) Set aside.



3) Third Saute
a) Saute 1 portion of the onion and garlic with the shrimp.
b) Set aside.



4) Mix all of the sauted ingredients and the chopped scrambled egg in a big pot.
a) Season with salt, pepper, fish sauce, and soy sauce.
b) Set Aside.



5) Set-up
a) Place a lumpia wrapper on a plate
b) Put a lettuce leaf in the center
c) Pile two to three tablespoon of your filling on top of the leaf
d) Garnish with pounded peanuts, sugar, cilantro leaves and crispy
fried noodle and other optional garnishings.
e) Roll up the lumpia, make sure you tack in the corners to seal.
f) You might want to use two wrappers to ensure that the lumpia does
not burst.



6) Condiments
a) Prepared lumpia sauce
b) Hot sauce



So go ahead, organize a lumpia party and have your guests involved in the preparation. Not only will it be fun but the final assessment will surely be: Delicious!!

Note: proportion of ingredients may be adjusted to fit your preference. If you like togue more than the other veggies, go ahead and make yourself happy.

Write-on Baby!

While cleaning out my closet one warm evening, I came across a box containing old letters dating back to my elementary school days; home-made greeting cards-- some with lopsided flowers and crayola hearts and some liberally sprinkled with silver dust; and, written bits and pieces of lives lived. There were letters from friends with stories of travel and announcements of milestones in their lives. Friends who vowed to always stay in touch. I pause and wondered where they are now.



There were three diaries of different years-- all started at different months of each year; all ending abruptly; all written in my small, tight and heavy penmanship. I read once more my impressions of the people and events that passed thru my young life then. The more I read, the more I remembered.

And there were letters I wrote but never sent. Letters filled with intense youthful angst -- hate, anger, disappointments. Reading them now, I am glad I never sent them out. Time does heal all wounds (or in some cases, dulls the pain) and what seemed to be so important then becomes so petty in the present light.



Amusingly there were also little scraps of paper with scribbled to-dos; a list of items to take on a trip; and even a crumpled note that definitely was passed around during a boring class. There was a famous quote on torn rule pad and a short poem I wrote about a cat (!).
•
With modern technology, writing or chronicling has evolved. But whatever the chosen mode, the value of putting thought to paper or ,now-a-days,to blog stays the same.

It is proof of ones existence.

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One notable find from that box is the following recipe given to me by a former office mate, C. C used to share her homemade lunch at the office. At one time, she brought bangus sardines. It was so good that I asked her repeatedly for the recipe. She finally gave it to me before migrating to Canada. I have not heard from her since. I tried the recipe out last weekend and it was as delicious as I remembered it to be. (Thanks C!)

Bangus Spanish-Style Sardines

1 k bangus
1/2 c olive oil or corn oil
1 c water
4 T sugar
1 t peppercorn
2 t salt
1 small crushed garlic clove
3 bay leaves
5 sili labuyo
5 small tomatoes (seeded and sliced)
3 slices of ginger (as big as 1-peso coins)
1 green or red bell pepper (sliced into thick strips)
1 small carrot (sliced into rounds)
pickles for garnish



If you are lucky, have the fish vendor clean and scale your bangus. It would be ideal if the fish is about 6 -8 inches long.



At home, wash your fish, cut off their heads and set aside to drain if they are small in size or if large,cut into 3-4 pieces.



Measure out all the ingredients.



Place the bangus pieces into a pressure cooker. Arrange the tomatoes, bay leaves, ginger slices, sili labuyo and sliced bell pepper in the pot.



Add the oil, water and seasoning (salt, sugar, peppercorn).

Seal and pressure cook for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, cool the cooker down based on pressure cooking instructions. Open and turn each bangus slice over. This will enable the flavors better penetration. At this point, I suggest that you taste the resulting broth and adjust seasoning accordingly. Seal the cooker and resume cooking for about 25-30 minutes. Cook 45 minutes longer if bangus are large.

Once done, cool the cooker and carefully open the lid. Let the sardines cool down. Since they are very hot, they will tend to crumble if transferred out of the pot. When the fish slices have been removed to a container, add the carrots into the pot with the remaining sauce and quickly bring to a boil. Do not over-cook as the purpose is to retain the crispiness of the carrot. Pour the sauce and carrots onto the sardines and garnish with some sliced pickles.



Note:
• You must have a pressure cooker to try out this recipe. This type of cooking quickly softens the bones of the fish.
• You must know how to use a pressure cooker. Explosions or accidents occur from opening the cooker without properly releasing all of the pressure.
• Add or decrease your sili labuyo depending on how hot you want your dish to be. As the sili I added were not crushed, the resulting dish was not at all hot.
• Best to double the recipe and use 2 kilos of bangus to make all that effort worthwhile.

Trust me, it will be worthwhile. I served the sardines to a Spanish priest and he thought it was good. That’s enough reason for me to do this again.